Cerberus effect reboot
by M.N. Arias
Summary: This is the reboot of my first story, Michael and his friends all get transported to the mass effect universe, too bad only Michael knows what that is, though separated from each other, they all Have an effect on the others. Rated T for now, but might change later in the story, time period Pre ME1,
1. Chapter 1

Michael got out of bed when his alarm rang, "Morning already?" he asked and groggy tone, then presses the snooze button on the alarm clock to the left of his oversized bed. He then got up and went to the shower and begin to wake up as the hot water run over his body. When he got out he saw that his son had a message on it from Sean, one who is oldest and only friends.

the message read, "_Hey, have you seen grant I've been trying to reach him for the past couple hours but he hasn't responded to any of my messages, can you tell me if you hear from him or if you know where he is?" _Michael picked up his phone and pressed the call button.

"Hey Sean, I haven't heard from Grant yet," Michael says when he hears Sean pick up the phone, "he might be at the grave yard... It has been a year since they died," Michael moves over to his dresserand puts on his usual black shirt and black slacks.

Sean size over the phone, "I know, it was hard on all of us but him especially," he tells Michael, "he was really close to Elsa, I'm surprised that he was even able to get over her."

"It's alright its been awhile since it happened," Michael says more to himself than to Sean, "I'll head to the graveyard." He tells Sean as he gets his trench coat from the closet, and exits his room.

"I'll meet you there Michael," Sean responds and then hangs up the phone.

Michael locked out into the living room, and saw the family portrait he hadn't thought about his family for a while. His twin sister, Elsa had been the only other person in their family that could relate to what Michael felt, his father had been a source of guidance and wisdom whenever Michael talked to him, his mother had been a caring woman and nurtured him. Now they were all dead, and there was nothing he could have done about it. He closed his eyes as he forced himself to look away from the picture, and walked out the front door. Michael got into the car that was waiting for him, in the circular driveway.

" Where would you like to go sir?" asked Alfred, his butler that had served him well over the course of his employment.

Michael looked out the window and at the house that had become a prison to him, "To the graveyard Alfred," he says, "I have some things to do there."

"I understand sir," Alfred says as he begins to drive through the streets of a town that Michael once knew like the back of his hand, but now felt like he could get lost as soon as he turned down a corner or went too far down a street. Alfred knew that Michael was still grieving the loss of his family, even after a year, it could still be seen in his eyes. Alfred attempted to engage in small talk as they drove, "It is a beautiful day isn't it sir?" he asks Michael when they come to a red light.

"Yes it is Alfred," Michael responds. He watches as pedestrians walk across the streets, living perfectly normal, and happy lives. He sees that most of them take for granted the amount of time that the have with loved ones, and sighs, knowing that until they lose everything, they would't cherish these moments. The irony, no one knows what they have until it is gone, a truth that he had learned not too long ago.

Alfred had hoped to get more than a few words out of Michael, but knew that it would be next to pointless if he didn't want to talk, so Alfred just sighed. He saw that they were coming up on the grave yard, it had been just under a year ago that they had last been here. It was the only time that Michael didn't wear his trench coat that he wore every day. Though Michael never cried, he always said that he didn't have time to cry, and that it wasn't necessary. Alfred one that after the death of Michael's father, he would have to take over the company, and was always looking at his touch tablet, this was one day when they wouldn't bother him with miscellaneous details, and he knew it.

Michael watched as the car stopped at the graveyard, "We are here," he says to himself as Alfred exits the car, and walks around it to open Michael's door, "thank you Alfred," he tells his butler as he steps out of the car, "you can go back to the house until I call for you," he says.

Alfred nods as he gets back into the driver's seat, "I'll be waiting," he tells Michael, then closes the door and drives away.

Michael watches as Alfred drives away, then hears, "Michael, it's good to see you without that damned tablet," Michael turns around to see Sean leaning on the side of his motorcycle.

" Sean," Michael says as walks over to him, "It is nice to see you again," he holds a hand out, to which Sean takes it.

"It has been a while," Sean says, "Since Grant and went to the air force," he says.

Michael nods, "Yeah, he got leave yesterday didn't he?" Michael asks.

"I was supposed to meet him yesterday, but he didn't show," Sean says,

"That's not like Grant," Michael says as he puts his hand to his chin, "he is the type that shows up right on time for everything, not too late, not too early."

Sean nods, "He might be here," Sean says, "ET went ahead of us, I stayed here to wait for you," he tells Michael.

"ET is here?" Michael asks, "with his immune system, he would be sick in a few minutes."

Sean chuckles, "He is being careful, has an air purifier stuck to a mask," he tells Michael was he pats him on the back, and begins to lead him into the graveyard. It wasn't long before they met with ET, who was kneeling next to Grant's unconscious body, in front of the Arias family graves. Sean runs to the two and kneels as well, "What happened?" he asks.

"I don't know," ET says in a slightly hispanic accent, "I found him here, I called for an ambulance, and they said that they would get here as soon as they could."

"They'll get here in about 45 minutes," Michael says as he walks to the trio, "They have to drive 5 miles, not to mention it is hard to get through traffic no matter who you are at this time of day, then you add the fact that they would have to get out of the ambulance and run here."

ET and Sean look at Michael, "You know there are other things to take into account right?" Sean asks, getting a look from Michael, "but I'm guessing you put those into account and took the average."

"Correct," Michael says as he sees a glint of silver next to his father's gravestone. He goes to investigate the object and discovers a square briefcase. Michael picks up the briefcase, and opens it. He sees that there is a replica of a prothean data shard, from the Mass Effect game series inside of it, "That's odd," he comments.

Sean looks at Michael and sees the brief case, "What's that?" he asks as he moves to stand next to Michael, and upon seeing the contents of the briefcase, he furrows his brow, "Why is that out here?"

Michael shrugs, keeping his gaze upon the object, "I don't know," he says as he picks up the shard. As soon as he touched the rectangular device it started glowing, Michael didn't react to it merely observed.

Sean on the other hand backed away, "Put that thing down before..." his words were drowned out by a high-pitched sound that burrowed into the three conscious minds, engraving a vision each unique to their own seer.

* * *

_Michael was floating in the air, he saw himself with a gun _

_Michael was standing in a room with a view of the earth with his gun pointed at the ground , he felt regret not wanting to have to do what was necessary, "Athena stop," he says, _

_Athena aims at Michael, "You know this is necessary." She tells him_

_"I'm sorry," Michael says, as he aims the gun at Athena, but before the scene can finish everything fades to black._

* * *

_Sean sees himself in a dirty environment, and looks around there were corpses everywhere, but one stood out to him._

_Sean moves towards the corpse and sees a stab wound through her chest, then looks back at himself who is weeping, this person was someone he cared for, and he couldn't stop her death from happening, he tried to prevent it, but it wasn't meant to be, "I'm sorry Sami," he says_

_Sean's vision ends and he fades into darkness._

* * *

_ET saw himself, wearing a suit that protected his entire body from contaminants, walking the hallways of a ship with multiple figures wearing the same suits,_

_ET heard running and looked around, "Uncle ET!" he hears a young girl yell, "I'm going on my pilgrimage tomorrow!"_

_ET smiles under his helmet, "I'm so proud, you are a fine young woman," he says as she jumps into his arms, he had treated the girl like his daughter, and would hope that she does great things._

_With that ET's Vision comes to an end as everything fades into black._


	2. Chapter 2

**Arias is here with another chapter of Cerberus effect, I have changed how Michael reacts to Cerberus and now without further adieu, This portion of Cerberus Effect.**

* * *

Michael woke up in an unfamiliar place, but didn't move, or open his eyes, just listening to the sounds around him, "What is the status on our guest?" an Asian woman asks.

"There has been no change in activity, his brain activity is still off the charts," a man answers, "I would like to keep him for observation once he wakes up," the same man requests.

"Granted, I want to know everything there is about him, before I send a report to the Illusive man," as soon as the woman answered, Michael recognized the name Illusive man, but didn't react just stayed perfectly still.

Michael could tell he wasn't the clothes he put on when he left his house that morning, but that was the least of his worries, _I have to find a way out of here, _he thinks.

"His brain activity changed," the man from before says, "He's conscious,"

Michael jumps up from the bed he was on, and notices the two guards by the door, or more the insignia on their armor, "Cerberus," he says as the first guard charges at him. Michael turns his body so that the man passes him harmlessly, then kicks him in the back, sending him into the wall.

The second guard charged while Michael's back was turned and grabbed him. Michael responded by stepping on his toe, a near pointless act as the man had what appeared to be heavy armor on, he heard the guard laugh, "You have to do better than that," he says.

Michael responds by putting his leg behind the man's leg, and pushing backwards with as much force as he could muster, causing both of them to fall to the ground. Michael rolled off of the man and went for the door, when he opened it he was tackled to the ground by two more guards.

The men put him back onto the bed and put restraints on him, "Now you'll stay there," the obvious captain says.

Michael stayed silent, contemplating his situation, _Shit, Think you can get out of this, _he says in his head, concentrating, then the room glows blue as a powerful shockwave is sent throughout and send the guards to the walls, and destroying his restraints.

"He's a biotic..." on of the men say before going unconscious.

Michael wastes no time in getting up and running out the door into the hallway. He looks for a way out, and runs as fast as he can, only slowing down so that he didn't run into a wall when he turned.

He heard guards coming towards his location and turned a corner. Michael stopped before running into a dead end, and turns around, "Son of a..." he trails off as he sees ten guards.

The captain of this group cracked his knuckles, "You killed some of our friends back there," he says in a gruff Russian accent, "luckily the doctor doesn't want you dead, but I think we need some pay-back."

Michael got into a fighting stance, "I'm not going down easily," he says, knowing he was at a complete disadvantage, they all had armor, whereas he had none, there were ten of them, and they were brutal. The only thing Michael had going for himself was probably that he might be a better fighter, but that idea wen out the window when the man in front of him took the same stance as him.

Michael waits for the man to charge. When the man makes then first move, Michael ducks under his kick, then sweeps the ground with his leg, causing the man to fall to the floor. Michael gets up and seeds another guard charging, this time he ducks under the man's fist, leaving his foot where it was and tripping him. He then felt the world shift, and realized he was being tackled to the ground. Hitting his face on the metal floor with a loud smack, he was disoriented, and couldn't resist as the man turned him onto his back and started beating him senseless.

Michael felt the man's weight come off of his torso, and tried to sit up,. Only to find a foot in his face, and hit the floor again, "Is...that...all?" He goads them.

The man started kicking him in the stomach repeatedly, making Michael curl up into a fetal position. When the man finished he said, "Time for the main event," then reaches for a knife on his belt, kneeling next to Michael's broken body he looks at the knife, then grabs Michael's hair.

Michael tries to resist, but ultimately fails. He looks at the knife, "What are you doing?" He asks in a panicked tone.

The man smiles sadistically, "You'll find out," he says as he brings the knife closer to Michael's eye. Resulting in Michael trying to break free again, "If you keep squirming it won't work," the man stabs Michael's eye.

Michael screams out in pain, feeling the cold metal where his eye used to be, he tries to remove the blade, but the man keeps it there, finally pulling out when he was satisfied that Michael felt enough pain, "You son of a bitch!" Michael shouts as he covers his, now blind, eye.

The man chuckles as he starts to move his blade into the direction of Michael's other eye, "At least I'm not you," he says.

Michael uses both of his hands to try and prevent the man from completely blinding him, "I'll make you regret that!" He shouts through gritted teeth. As the blood flowed from Michael's eye into his mouth, he heard, _Kill him, painfully, slowly, make him pay for what he has done, _as he heard these words his body started glowing blue, and it started growing onto the man's hands and body.

The man stopped trying to drive the knife into Michael's eyes as the blue glow went through his armor, feeling like a thousand hot needles poking his skin. He screamed out, and started backing away from Michael, "Stay away!" He shouted.

Michael stood up, and looked at the cowering man, "Pitiful," he says as he holds his hand up and the knife floats off the floor, he then starts spinning it in the air in a drill motion and slowly sends it towards the man. It's spin increases in speed as it reaches a few inches from the man's eye, the man is sitting on the floor petrified by the display.

"Please..." he begs, looking at Michael with fear, "Don't..." Michael sneers at the man and the glow around both of their bodies increase, making one laugh sadistically, and the other scream in agony.

Michael sends the knife through the man's eye, slowly, letting the knife drill into the soft white, and when he was finished, the man was silent, and limp, "That's...what...you...get," Michael says as he falls over, unconscious.

* * *

**I hope you follow and review, so that I can know what you think of this chapter, and there is something I'm cooking up to make his biotics make sense, though it won't be revealed until later,**


	3. Chapter 3

Michael wakes up and immediately notices he only has half of his vision, "That rules out this was only a dream," he says to himself, as he sits up. Michael examines his surroundings, there was a desk, a mirror, "No doubt a one way window," Michael comments.

"I see you are awake," The man from before says, "you are an interesting case," he says.

Michael looks at the mirror, "Who are you?" Michael asks.

"Probably your only friend," the man responds.

"Your name," Michael demands, "now."

"You are in no condition to make threats," the man tells Michael sternly, "but you can call me Dr. Shepard."

Michael wonders about the name but dismisses it, "All right Shepard," he says crossing his arm, "my name is..." he pauses, considering whether or not to give him his real name, but decides against it, "Eres."

Shepard notices the pause, "Your real name," he says, "or I'll have them beat it out of you."

Michael chuckles, "You would have already done that if they wanted," he walks up to the mirror, "you... are... scared... of... me," he tells the man through the mirror with a sadistic smile.

"Fine then," the doctor says, clear fright in his voice, "Eres, I would like to ask you a few questions, if that's all right with you?" He asks regaining the calmness in his voice.

Michael frowns, "Sure thing," he says crossing his arms behind his back.

"First off your age?" Shepard asks.

"17," Michael responds.

"Degree of education?"

"Degree in business, and investigation," Michael tells him, remembering the classes he took from 7th grade, allowing him to graduate a full two years prior to the rest of the people he started school with.

"Combat abilities? And don't lie, I saw what your fight with the guards," Shepard says.

"Black belt in Karate, Kendo, and Aikido," Michael answers, "and marksman training," the martial arts were a hobby of his, but he hadn't had any time to train in the past year, he was a pretty good shot, had a silver medal from the state competition for his ROTC marksman group.

"Interesting," Shepard says, "that is all for now," he says, then there is a distinctive click, indicating that he doctor has left.

Michael feels his blind eye, "Leather?" He asks as he feels the eye patch, "How considerate."

* * *

Samuel Shepard had recorded all the data he had collected from 'Eres' and was now going to his superior, "He is a mystery," he says to himself.

"I take it that you didn't get very much information," comes the Asian voice of Dr. Sazuki.

"He answered all the questions," Samuel says, "but he has no biotic implants, yet from our estimates he has the same potential as an asari matriarch."

"That is impossible," Sazuki says, "no human alive has the ability to use biotics to that extent," she furrows her eyebrows.

"That is only the estimated potential," Samuel responds, "it could be higher, or lower, we won't know until we test him."

"Then start testing," She orders, then turns to her console, "Until we know everything, and I mean everything, about this boy, we cannot send a report to the illusive man, and he is not patient."

"I understand," Samuel responds, "I will get on it right away."

Dr. Sazuki watches as Samuel walks away, "Too bad he's married," she says to herself, then turns back to her console.

* * *

Michael had fallen asleep on his bed, and woke up in a forest, "A dream?" he asks himself, "haven't had one of these in a while."

"Weak," he hears a voice from behind him, but when he turns around there is nothing, "Pitiful," Michael turns again and comes face to face with a mirror.

"What?" He asks himself, then sees that his reflection doesn't move with him, "interesting.." he says as he begins to stroke his chin.

"Are you so surprised?" His reflection asks, "did you really think you could kill a man?"

Michael chuckles, "I guess not," he says realizing who he was talking to, "so what do I call you?" He asks his reflection.

"You gave me a name," His reflection tells him, "Eres."

Michael smiles, "So you are," he says as he crosses his arms across his chest.

"You are taking this surprisingly well," Eres says as he raises his eyebrows, "care to elaborate?"

"Oh, I suspected I was sociopathic, all you did was confirm my suspicions," Michael tells his alter ego, "just remember, I'm in charge."

"We'll see about that," the reflection says with a sadistic smile. The world around them fades away.

* * *

**Well that is chapter 3 a little more sensible than originally, don't worry, I have most of the stuff in this planned, and it will all make sense soon.**


	4. stun rods!

Michael woke up with the biggest headache in his life, "Damn," he says as he rubs his head, "I haven't felt like this since that time me and Sean went a couple rounds," he moans as he sits up. to his surprise there word three guards and a scientist standing by the door.

"Hello Eres," Shepard says as he walks forward, "I would like to inform out of your training schedule effective of today," a pleasant smile forming on his face, Michael noted that it was almost genuine.

"What training?" Michael asks glaring at the man with his one functioning eye.

"We are going to see how strong you are," Shepard tells Michael as he walks forward and produces a collar from his lab coat, "now if you would just let me put this collar on..." he doesn't finish the sentence as his wrist was grabbed by Michael and twisted, "Ahhhh!" He screamed in agony.

"I am no slave!" Michael yells at Shepard as he throws him to the ground, "Don't foge-" Michael is cut off in the middle of his sentence by one of the guards hitting him with a stun rod. Michael fell to the floor shaking from the electricity that was flowing through his body, "Fu-u-uck y-oo-ou," he gets out before they put the collar around his neck.

"I think he broke my wrist," Shepard says as he applies pressure to his wrist.

"If you don't take this damn collar off of me..." Michael growls as two of the guards pick him up. He then feels the effects of a depressant drug, causing him to calm down a little, "Damn you."

the guard by the door chuckles, "You are our little bitch," he says as he holds the remote for the collar up for Michael to see.

Michael tries to break free from his warden's grasp, but jolts as another round of electricity goes through his body, "S-o-o-on o-of a b-i-it-ch," he stutters before the rod is removed from his back.

They start dragging Michael through the hallways of the facility, turning every third cross junction, and Michael hears Shepard say something into his , but can't make it out as the drugs in his system had taken their full effect, "I don't know how you expect me to 'train' with these drugs in my system," he tells them.

They finally come to a stop at a large door, "They were made to wear off right...about...now," Shepard says, and Michael feels some of the effects of the drugs wear off.

"Fuck you," Michael says as Shepard opens the room in front of them was big to say the least, "Damn," Michael says seeing the track in the middle of the room that ran around a pool area, then a shooting range on one side of the room, along with a sparing arena.

"This will be your training facility for the duration of your stay with us," Shepard says as the guards walk Michael into the room.

"All this just for me?" Michael asks, "I'm touched."

"I thought you said the drugs would wear off by now," the captain says in a German drawl.

"And fuck you too," Michael responds flipping him off.

"Next time I break puny finger," the German man responds as both of his guards throw him a few feet away.

Michael lands with a had thud on the metallic floor, "I love you too," he says as he sits up and shakes his head.

The German spits at Michael, "If I had my way, you would have been crushed like bug under my boot."

Michael stands up, "Say that to my face," he tells the German brute, "or are too chicken?" He then begins to cluck like a chicken.

The German walks up to Michael fuming out of the ears, "You have no right to say that to me!" He raises his hand to slap Michael, but before the hand meets the skin the man is on the floor.

Michael had grappled the man, slamming him face first into the metal, then took his stun rod and hit him with it, "Payback is a bitch," he says to the man as he takes the rod off of him. Michael saw the man was unconscious, "Anyone-o-ow-ow-ow!" He shrieks as them second guard comes from behind with another stun rod.

"Now if you are done messing around," Samuel says, "we have tests to run. Start with running as far as you can without stopping."

Michael lays on the floor, "A-f-TER I-I l-e-er-n i-if I-I Ca-an st-til-ill ha-ve ki-ids-" he sttutters out having landed on the stun rod he had taken from the German man where the sun don't shine.

* * *

**Well all men can agree that didn't end well for Michael, *shudders* when you thought he was going to do something awesome, oh look a stun rod.**


	5. The human will

It had been three weeks since Michael had first arrived in the Mass Effect universe, and more specifically into Cerberus hands. He was sore and aching in every conceivable place, "This is not fun," he said aloud as he closed his eye.

_What part of this did you think would be fun? _the voice of Eres, his apparent alternate personality, asked.

"You aren't helping," Michael said aloud as he rolled over in his bed.

The door opened moments later, and Dr. Shepard walked in, "Hello," he said as two guards followed behind him, "It is time for your operation."

"What operation?"

"We are going to see if it is possible to overwrite the human will," was all Michael got in response as the two guards walked towards him.

"Not a chan-zzz in- he-ll!" he shouted as one of the guards put a stun rod to his torso, a favorite past time of theirs. Both guards Dragged Michael out of the room following Shepard.

A few minutes later Michael was strapped into an operating table, with various machines beeping, blooping, and bleeping around him, "So, what exactly is going to happen?"

"We are going to surgically implant a neuro skeleton, which will allow us to send electrical signals into your brain."

"You are a sadistic bastard. What exactly is that supposed to do?"

"We'll be able to change how you see, feel, and experience," the doctor answered, "making you believe that you want to work for us."

"You mean be enslaved to you."

"No, by the end of this, it will be your choice, and we cannot enslave a willing volunteer."

"That is grade A bull-shit," Michael told the doctor.

He didn't respond, but instead pressed a command into the terminal, "Begin Neural nodule implantation," he announced. The arms of the machines above him began sending multiple plugs into Michael's skin, each spaced a few centimeters apart from the other. The process lasted for at least ten minutes, but to Michael, it felt like an eternity of pain.

"Doctor, the nodules are responding at 75% of their predicted limits, within functional parameters," A synthetic voice said after a few seconds, "Analysis show that if we place secondary nodules in the spine and neck, an estimated additional 15% will be added."

"Turn him over."

The two guards in the room moved to unstrap Michael, and when they did the prisoner jumped up, punching one in the throat and dodging the stun rod of his comrade by hiding behind the other.

"Activate the nodules!" the doctor shouted as Michael grabbed the arm of the guard and broke it over his knee.

Michael's body seized as electrical impulses went through his body, paralyzing him, "I'll... kill... you..." his voice was strained, obviously struggling to resist the will of the nodules that was being forced upon him.

"I don't think so," the doctor said as he pressed a few commands into his terminal. Michael's body moved mechanically until he was lying face down on the operating table, "Begin implantation of secondary nodules," the machines started wiring again as they once again began putting the implants into Michael's spine and neck, two on each vertebra. and four on the back of his neck, "Status report?"

"The nodules are responding at 95%, the subject still has some control over his body."

"How much?"

"If he concentrated hard enough he would be able to resist the nodules for a limited amount of time. It will also take more time to make the subject think what we want him to do is what he wants."

"So, we have full control?"

"Yes."

"Good, begin the training immediately."

"Yes doctor."

Michael's body began to move against his will, more fluently than before, "When this ends, you better watch your ass," Michael said as he tried, and failed, to turn his head at the doctor. He then walked out of the room and back to his cell.

Samuel looked at the two unconscious guards on the floor, "Get a medical team down here to get these buffoons to the infirmary."

"Is there anything else that you need doctor?"

"Get me a hot cup of tea, and open a vid chat with my wife."

"Are you sure about that doctor?"

"We need to talk."

"I understand, a line is open in your quarters."

"Send the tea there as well."

"Yes doctor."

Samuel walked out of the operating room and towards his room.

* * *

**As you all know, as long as you read the original version of this fic, Samuel is Shepard's father, now if you also follow Engineer effect, you know that Shepard hates her father. This event is the catalyst to start the events that lead to the development. While I do plan on having Michael escape, it isn't before a few events that are referenced in my other fics happen, such as Omega's occupation.  
**


End file.
